I love '71 dead, although my personal favorite Dead incarnation of all time is the quintet before Keith joined. I agree with previous comments that there's something crisp and electric about this year, different from '70 and '72. The band just "pops" if that explains anything. However, I don't understand the Bobby bashing. I agree that he should not have played lead or slide guitar, but during jams like this "Dark Star" or the "NFA" medley I am awed by his ability to noodle and basically keep the compass steering through the song. Many times Jerry is soaring toward space, Phil is soloing off of Jerry, and Bobby keeps throwing hints of the rhythem to keep us and the band grounded. Without Bobby, can you even imagine the Dead sound?

Augustwest commented: "I don't hear people trashin' Bobby all the time! He completly slaughters alot of blues tuned with his singing and slide nonsense!"

Well I'll join in. It's nice to know that other people in the audience knew that Weir's slide playing was atrocious at best. And he did kill many a song with his singing. That being said, when Bobby was reigned in and played good tunes it usually was a great night. He did write some incredible tunes, but he also love play the cheeseballs (as my friends used to say).

Had to respond to the previous poster.

Comparing Bob Weir to Janis Joplin is absolutely ridiculous. Now maybe you personally have a soft spot for his voice, and that's fine, but Janis? C'mon man.

Having said that, I think Donna, more often than not, added a powerful, lusty female vibe to the band that really balanced their sound. Yeah, she wailed outside of her envelope some times, but only Bobby has had me dashing full speed to the volume knob with my head about to explode. Like the sound of a thousand fingers scraping on the worlds largest chalkboard all at once. Only some times, mind you, but when it was bad it was epically bad. Most times, at least before the late 70s, I dug Bobby's singing. Springfield Creamery, 8/27/72 is, for me, his high point.

Anyhow, this show is just now being released as a "Road Trip" so I'm gonna give it a listen and see if I should throw down.

Peace

Short but sweet. Yet another take on the rainbow of sounds and rhythms that only the Dead could produce. The Jam is incredibly nuts good. Once again, redefined Jerry.

I agree with ScarletChina below. Donna's not in the band, and her Playin screams alone should have had banished her from the stage. Don't know what AugustWest 420 is talking about. Compare her to Bobby? Please. You could compare Bobby to Janis- that would be great- apples to apples. They could both scream chords, whereas Donna just screams bloody murder. Embarrassing, as one reviewer said about her from another show.

Wow. Wish that was downloadable. That is some EXCELLENT Grateful Dead music.

A first set Dark Star in '71? And it's not even the high mark of the show? Nice partial of the highlights from this performance, the extremely well jammed NFA> GDTRFB is one of the very best! C'mon David, where is the rest of this show? This three performance swing through Texas deserves to be an official release!

the boys are loose, happy

First,the Dark Star> El Paso segue is great,and, personally,I can't recall ever hearing it done before,but,by no means,am I saying that it hasn't.Now the previous review kinda took a stab at the lovely Mrs. Donna Jean,and I know that she was sometimes,well most of the time,off key,but,in her defense,she really has a beautiful voice,and I don't hear people trashin' Bobby all the time! He completly slaughters alot of blues tuned with his singing and slide nonsense!It would have to be hard to have,damn near,all of your live shows recorded and put under so much scrutiny,ya know? Everyone has bad nights,and some have way more than others,like in Donna's case,but the period that she was in the band is widely accepted as one of the best,if not the best,period of the bands long history.What I said about Bobby wasn't ripping him at all.I love Bob Weir,and I really don't care for Donna Jean in the least,but just think that we should cut her some slack.PEACE,LOVE,&THE GRATEFUL goddamn DEAD!

A mixed bag: DS is not stellar but transition into El Paso is nice; Paso has blurry sound especially on vocals and played slower than I personally like to hear it; into a noodly Jam that becomes lively, into NFA that's tight though a bit blurry at first then the sound becomes clear and it rocks (with a beautiful bit of China Cat from Jerry about halfway through; into Jam, into GDTRFB, with a hint of Charlie somewhere in here, into closing with NFA again.

Best parts are the second part of the first jam and the first NFA. These show the boys at their best, unadorned by any crappy female vocals, stripped down and rockin'. Well worth a listen.

Of a latherous second set.